Irving has a huge night but still comes up short
Guard finds his touch with 38 points, 16 in third quarter
CLEVELAND — Back at home, Kyrie Irving spent much of Wednesday’s Game 3 working his magic.
After not being nearly enough of a factor during the Cleveland Cavaliers losses to the Warriors in the first two games of the NBA Finals, the hero of last year’s Game 7 triumph showed up at Quicken Loans Arena.
He scored 38 points and electrified the crowd during the third quarter that put the Cavs in position to make this a series. But Irving probably won’t remember that.
With a chance to replicate his dagger 3-pointer from last year’s Finals, Irving hit front iron on a stepback 3 with 26.5 seconds to play as the Warriors rallied in the fourth quarter for a stunning 118-113 victory, moving within a win of a second title in three years and a record-setting 16-0 blast through the playoffs.
“I’ll probably be replaying that play for a while,” Irving said afterward, shivering not from the way the game ended but his postgame dip in the ice bath.
It was a cruel ending for Irving after he made the third quarter — the period the Warriors tend to dominate — into his own personal playground.
Irving scored 16 points in the third period as the Cavaliers outpaced Golden State 33-22. According to ESPN Stats and Information, the Warriors were 0-12 over the past 40 postseasons when being outscored by more than 10 points in the third entering the night. They’re now 1-12.
Irving did it with his patented ability to drive and finish. Through three quarters, he had scored 24 points in the paint — the most of his career. LeBron James was dominating right beside him, finishing just shy of another triple-double with 39 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was left to just hope and assume the two stars would tire out.
“Kyrie and LeBron had it going the whole game, but that’s pretty taxing to go one-on-one the whole game,” Kerr said. “Both those guys were amazing, 38 and 39. But that takes a lot out of you. We just kept telling the guys, they’re going to get tired.”
James and Irving combined to make 27 of 48 shots through the first three quarters and just 4 of 12 in the fourth. Irving didn’t score over the final 5:29 and James over the last 4:28. They clearly wore down as the game went on, even if James insisted that wasn’t a factor.
“I gave everything that I had,” James said. “At times throughout the game I was tired, but that’s just because I was playing as hard as I could.
“But I was able to get second and third and fourth winds. I don’t contribute us losing this game because we got tired.”
For James, it came down to them missing shots. If Irving connects on the 3 after first trying to dribble drive, it’s a different story. But the Warriors’ Klay Thompson wouldn’t allow that.
“Kyrie’s been hot all night, and I think that I just did a good job of not falling for any of his moves,” Thompson said of that key sequence. “He’s real shifty, and just stayed in front of him, and luckily he missed the shot.”